Valve flap for mouth organs



April 18, 1950 u5 VALVE FLAP FOR MOUTL-I ORGANS Filed Sept. 13, 1947Fatented Apr. 13, 195% UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE VALVE FLAP FOR MOUTHORGAN S Hans Bibus, Kusnacht-Zurich, Switzerland Application September13, 1947, Serial No. 773,910 In Switzerland September 18, 1946 2 Claims.1

In the case of high-quality mouth-organs use is made with a view topreventing the escape of air and to improving the tone, of valve flapswhich close the suction reed slots when the user blows and the expulsionreed slots when the user draws in air. These flaps have hitherto almostalways been made of sheepskin, which owing to its suppleness and finehair is a very good sealing medium although only so long as it is dry.As soon as these sheepskin flaps are moistened on one side by thecondensation water which almost inevitably collects in mouth-organs,they crinkle and no longer perform their intended function.

If a smooth and non-absorbent material such as rubber or some elesticplastic is used for the flaps, this crinkling effect is avoided, but onthe other hand the condensation water, by its surface tension, causesthe smooth flaps to adhere to the reed-plate.

The present invention relates to a valve flap which eliminates thedisadvantages presented by the known types of valve flaps. The valveflaps for mouth-organs in accordance with the present invention arecharacterized by the fact that the flaps are so designed that they restby their edges on the reed-plates. The flap itself may be tapered orconcave so as to lie on the edges of the reed slots, or else the valveflap may be convex and taper to an edge with which it rests on thereed-plate. Such hollow or channeled flaps have the further advantageover prior structures that with the same stiffness of the flaps, largeramplitudes of the vibrating reeds can be attained without their strikingthe flaps.

With Valve flaps designed in accordance with the invention thecondensation water can cause only negligible adhesion along the edges ofcontact and materials can therefore be used which are insensitive towater, such for instance as rubber or elastic plastics, which have asmooth surface. The material may be chosen exclusively on the basis ofits elasticity and specific Weight, without it being necessary to takeinto consideration the phenomena of adhesion peculiar to the usualdesign.

In the enclosed drawing Figs. 1 to 9 exemplify a number of typicalembodiments of the invention, as follows:

Fig. 1 the reed-block of a mouth-organ;

Figs. 2 and 3 a first embodiment of a valve flap;

Figs. 4 and 5 a second embodiment of a valve flap;

Figs. 6 to 8 various convex embodiments of the valve flap;

Fig. 9 a special type of hollow flap.

In Fig. l, I designates the wooden grid, 2 and 2' the upper and lowerreed-plates, 3 and 4 the upper and lower blowing apertures. In the upperreed-plate 2 the suction reeds are designated by 5, the blowing reeds by6 and the valve flaps covering the blowing reeds 6 by l.

Fig. 2 shows a valve flap 8 of tapered crosssection which is glued tothe reed-plate 2 by its end 10 and projects into the reed-slot sealingthe said reed-slot 6 along the edge 9.

In Fig. 4 a valve flap 5 l in the form of a tube segment is shown. Thisagain is glued to the reed-plate 2 by its end i2 and projects into thereed-slot 6. Here again the valve flap rests along the edge of the reedslot Figs. 6-8 show constructional embodiments of valve flaps which donot rest along the reed-slot edges but are supported by their own edgeson the reed-plate 2. In Fig. 6 the valve flap 1?. rests by its edge Iton the reed-plate 2. Similarly the valve flap [5 rests along its ownedges, i.e. along the edge It) in Fig. 7, and the same applies to thevalve flap il in Fig. 8.

In Fig. 9 a hollow flap is illustrated which can be produced as amoulding from rubber, thermoplastic or any other elastic material invarious lengths corresponding to the reed-slots. At one end only theflap has a surface I9 underneath with which it is glued at thereed-rivet on the reed-plate. The side-walls I1 and the front wall Ittaper downwards to edges 20, which lie in the same plane as the surfacel9, so that the hollow part of the flap lies on the reed-plate alongthese edges 29 and seals the reed-slot ii on all sides.

All these constructional embodiments have the common feature, mentionedat the outset, that they seal only along the edges, either by the edgesof the reed-slots lying against the surface of the valve, or by thevalve flap itself being designed in such a way that it rests by itsedges on the surface of the reed-plates.

I claim:

1. In a mouth organ, the combination with a reed-plate having a seriesof reed slots, of means for closing said slots comprising valve flaps ofchannel cross-section having relatively sharp side edges, the flapsbeing secured to the reed-plate at one end in such manner that theyengage the plate mainly along said sharp edges.

2. A mouth organ as set forth in claim 1, wherein the reed-slots areprovided with separate, individually molded flaps of plastic material.

HANS BIBUS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,407,312 Magnus Sept. 10, 1946FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 16,822 Austria July 11, 1904 60,118Germany Nov. 30, 1891 691,598 Germany May 31, 1940

